


Arora Black Potter Banner Stark

by RomanceSucker42



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, F/M, Genius Harry Potter, Genius Peter Parker, Harry Potter is Not a Potter, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Marriage, Marriage of Convenience, Pregnancy, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, always a girl harry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29365821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanceSucker42/pseuds/RomanceSucker42
Summary: Arora found out she was not actually a Potter. After escaping the magical world, she decided that she wanted to at least meet her father. That took her life in a direction that no one could have predicted.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Harry Potter
Comments: 17
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Harry Potter/Avengers crossover fic. Harry is a girl and the war ended at the very end of her sixth year in a big battle where girl Harry dueled and won against Voldemort. Horcruxes are not a thing in this fic and the sixth and seventh books never happened. I messed up the MCU timeline a lot in this. It is heavily Spiderman centric with the other avengers around. First of all, Peitro Maxamoff does not die and the Accords are figured out to the point everyone is happy so everyone does not disappear. They are all happily living like a family in the Avengers Tower in New York. Clint Barton does not have a secret family and is instead in a relationship with Natasha Romanoff. End Game does not happen nor does the Snap, but a little bit of Infinity Wars does. A lot of the plot from Spiderman: Far from Home will be included at some point. Also, the avengers already know about the magical world because them not knowing is bullshit at this point. 
> 
> I don't own anything. Enjoy!

Arora looked up at the building, second guessing her decision a fifth time. Did she really want to do this? She was still trying to wrap her head around this, did she really want to actually confront the man? She was technically on the run, so it’s not really like she has all that much of a choice, but it was the principle of the thing. She wasn’t even sure how she was going to get in to actually talk to him. Maybe make a run for it? She knew the building specs fairly well. Well, as good as anyone can after studying them for a week straight. She’s been in the states for the last three weeks, she needed to stop putting off actually meeting the guy. 

Taking a deep breath, she finally entered the building and walked to the receptionist. 

“Hello, can I help you?” The receptionist asked. She was pretty and very well put together in her suit. 

“I need to speak to an individual who is a resident on the upper floors.” Arora tells her, nervously wringing her hands in the process. The receptionist’s warm demeanor noticeably cools by several degrees.

“I’m sorry, but that isn’t a possibility at this time.” The receptionist started but Arora quickly cut her off.

“No, please. I’m sure you get this all the time. I’m not here for anything like publicity. In fact, that is the last thing that I want. I just need five minutes with Bruce Banner.” The receptionist still looked skeptical and started going for the phone on her desk. Arora assumed it was to call for security and started to talk a little faster. “No, please don’t call security. I’ll leave, I promise, without any fuss. Just, please, at least tell him that there is someone who knew Lily Evans. I just need five minutes of his time. Please!” She asked desperately, but by then the receptionist had a phone in her ear. Arora folded in defeat, hoping this would go a lot easier than this. She put her head against the counter and slapped it once before she looked up again. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m leaving, I swear.” She immediately started to leave, booking it to the door. 

“Why do you want to see him?” A male voice asked, making her immediately stop and turn towards the voice. She took a step back when she saw it was Hawkeye. 

“It’s a personal matter, sir. I don’t want any trouble. I’m leaving, I swear.” She was so fucked if the police were involved. Even though the war was over, the magical world hasn’t left her alone once. It didn’t help that she was still sixteen and the Dursleys were technically still her guardians and because she was still under age, the magical world could basically do anything they wanted to her. If the police find out that she left (fled) her guardians, they could deport her back to England and make sure she gets back to the Dursleys and by extension the magical world. 

“Woah, take it easy. No one’s in any trouble.” Hawkeye told her, cautiously coming closer to her. Arora’s instincts told her that he wasn’t going to hurt her, but her fight or flight response was shouting at her to run. She forced herself to remain still, though she couldn’t control the flinch she had when he got within striking distance. “Okay, okay.” he told her, holding up his hands in a ‘I’m not a threat’ kind of way. “What’s your name?” Arora gave him a long look.

“Does it matter?” Hawkeye gave her a half smile.

“Do you want to talk to Bruce or not?” She swallowed and took a long, calming breath.

“Arora. My name is Arora.” 

“See, that wasn’t so hard. I’m Clint. Let’s see if we can pry the Doc from his lab, shall we?” He asked cheerfully, turning to the side and extending his arm in the direction of the elevators. She looked at him suspiciously, but still started to walk forward. Clint walked beside her and entered the elevator first with her hot on his heels. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she wasn’t expecting to be led to a conference room to wait. She immediately rounded on Clint.

“Please, I swear, if this is a problem, I won’t try contacting Dr. Banner again. I don’t want any trouble.” 

“Woah, easy, you're not in any trouble. Friday is calling him up right now.” He gave her a long, searching look. “How old are you?” 

“That really isn’t any of your business.” she tells him, starting to pace the room.

“Do your parents know you are here?” She looks at him briefly, but doesn’t answer him. He sighs. “I’m going to take that as a no. What is your last name?”

“Arora Potter, though If you’re here, I’m guessing it’s technically Arora Banner. Right?” Tony Stark asked as he waltzed into the conference room. Arora froze.

“Right, so clearly you know. Does he know?”

“Not yet. It took some serious digging to find out anything about you at all.” Stark commented, randomly walking around the room and fiddling with things. Arora kept a good distance from him, going so far as to move away from him if he got close to her general area.

“How much do you know?”

“Enough to know that your guardians don’t know where you are. You want to call them, tell them you are alright?” Arora took a frightened step closer to him.

“No! Please! Please don’t contact them. Just let me leave, and you won’t hear from me again, please!” She begged. She wasn’t going to use her magic unless this was a life or death situation so she was resolved to begging.

Clint and Stark shared a look right when a formidable redhead in heels walked into the room with Bruce Banner right behind her. Arora took a surprised breath, unconsciously taking a step back. 

“Tony, what did you do this time?” The redhead asked, sounding exasperated. 

“Why am I here, exactly?” Bruce asked, sounding confused. Arora took a breath and stepped closer to him.

“I wanted to talk to you, if you have a minute to spare Dr. Banner.” She told him, though her voice wavered as she said it. 

“Yeah, alright. Sure. What did you want to talk about?” Arora nodded and took a picture out of her back pocket, looking at it for a moment before handing it over to him.

“Do you remember this woman?” She asked as she passed it over. He took it and looked it over. Arora could tell the second he remembered her as it was all over his face.

“Lily. I haven’t seen her in sixteen, seventeen years. Why do you ask? Are you looking for her?” He asked, looking up from the photo. Arora shook her head no as she explained.

“No, Lily Potter was murdered fifteen years ago.” Bruce looked like he was sucker punched. 

“I’m sorry, but why are you asking me about her?” She paused, taking a breath in and letting it out as she spoke.

“Because she was my mother.” Bruce looked up sharply at that. He really took a good look at her, then stumbled over to a chair and sat down heavily. He didn’t say anything and after a few moments she asked quietly. “This is going to sound dumb, but will a DNA test work or has the gamma radiation distorted your DNA too much?”

“You’re not worried your magic isn’t going to distort the DNA results?” Bruce asked back, not missing a beat. Arora took a seat as well.

“So you knew my mother well then?” She asked, looking at her hands.

“Your mother.” Bruce said, letting out a breath. “Your mother was the bravest, kindest, most brilliant woman I have ever met. She had one hell of a fiery temper. Half the time I couldn’t tell if she was angry about something or if she was just passionate about something. I stumbled upon magic in my research, that is how I met Lily. She was the leading expert in spellcraft and magical theory.” he told her, scrubbing his face once. “I knew she was married, but they were separated when I knew her. Or, at least that is what I was told and I never pried. I didn’t want to know, if I’m being honest.” 

“You don’t have to do anything. I just wanted to meet you. And ask for your permission to use your last name?” Bruce looked up at her sharply.

“Why do you want that?” 

“She's running from something.” Stark commented. 

“Can you really blame her? Whoever they are are abusive pieces of shits.” Clint replied flippantly. Bruce and Arora tensed up, though for separate reasons.

“How-how do you know that?” she asked, shocked that he guessed so quickly. Clint scoffed.

“You don’t really get to our positions with rosy childhoods, kid.” he told her, to which she nodded her head in understanding.

“Who’s hurting you?” Bruce asked in a low, hard voice, almost like a growl. It made everyone else tense, but Arora relaxed a little at it as it reminded her of Remus’s protective growl.

“It’s a long story, but I’ll give you the abbreviated version of it.” She told them and waited for them to get comfortable (or waited for Tony to get comfortable as he flopped in a chair next to Bruce). She then proceeded to give them the bare bones of her situation. She explained about the war and what part the Potters had to play in the war. She explained about her popularity and just how stuck she was in the magical world. She very briefly explained about the Dursleys and only mentioned that she went to Hogwarts but didn’t tell them anything about her school years. Honestly, she didn’t want to think about the last two years of school as they were filled with betrayals. She had accidently broken a block on her magic which broke several memory charms and other blocks on her natural abilities. Turns out, she is a natural fire wielder as well as a natural Animagus. She also has an eidetic memory that was blocked by magic. Once she realized that, she spent time in the library consuming whole tombs of knowledge which lead her secretly passing her NEWTs in her fifth year. She had completed her magical education and now wanted out of the magical world.

Silence reigned when she stopped talking that was broken by Tony clapping his hands together. “Right, so you two should get your DNA samples to the lab while Pep and I get the paperwork straightened out. Do you think Peter would mind if she crashes on his floor until we have her floor fixed up?” He asked the room at large, getting up and starting for the door.

“Tony.” Bruce calls exasperated which Tony turns back to him.

“What? I think it would be good for them. Oh, I got to go tell Peter! He’s not the only Avengers’ kid anymore!” He disappeared quickly after that with Pep (as Tony called the redhead) hot on his heels and saying something about keeping him out of trouble. Clint, Bruce, and Arora all stared at each other for a few moments before Clint broke it.

“Come on, we better as we are told. Lab first, I think, then introductions.” Bruce and Arora nodded at him in the exact same way, much to Clint’s amusement.

The Lab took maybe twenty minutes as a cheek swab and some blood was taken from both of them. They were interrupted on the way out of the lab by an energetic sixteen year old who, by Arora’s opinion, was hot. He had brown hair and was fit as hell and was down right adorable as he rambled.

“Wow, hi! You must be Arora, Tony just told me that Dr. Banner had a daughter which is so cool and relieving that I’m not the only kid related to the Avengers. I’m Peter, by the way, Peter Parker. Well, Peter Parker Stark, technically, but I only found out I was a Stark a few months ago and things have only just been legalized, so I’m still getting used to the last name. Only my friends know and I think Mr. Stark did something to my school as they have only been referring to me as Mr. Parker still, even though I know my file now says Stark and I’m talking a lot. Am I talking a lot? I’m going to stop now.” Peter said all in one breath, She was rather impressed by it.

“Well, Peter Parker Stark, I’m Arora Lillian Potter Black Banner. Potter was my mother’s married name as her husband made me his legal heir and Black is my godfather’s last name as he technically adopted me. But I go by Rory for short.” She tells him, smiling in amusement at him and unconsciously relaxing during his rambling. Bruce and Clint noticed, though, as they shared a knowing look between them.

“That’s cool, where’s your godfather now?” Peter asked, though he looked like he immediately regretted it when Arora’s face fell. 

“He died, last year.” she told him quietly.

“Oh, wow, I’m so sorry. It was a stupid thing to ask.”

“It’s alright, it’s not like you knew.” she reassured him which left them standing awkwardly for a moment before Peter spoke again.

“Hey, you want a tour of R&D? They have some awesome things they are working on. That is, if it’s alright with you Dr. Banner?” Peter asked, sounding unsure about the entire thing.

“It’s Bruce, Peter, and if that’s what Arora wants, then by all means, don’t let me stop you.” He told the teenagers which got him bright smiles from both of them. “Just make sure you’re on time for dinner, it’s probably going to be a full family dinner.” He warned, mostly to Peter so he could prepare Arora. Peter just saluted and the two of them ran off to explore R&D.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything. Enjoy!

The explosion that rocked half the building three hours later really shouldn’t have been a surprise.  
\--------  
“So let me see if I have this right.” Bruce told the doctor two hours after the explosion. Peter and Arora were the only ones in the infirmary as they were the only ones hurt during the explosion. Not that there weren’t other people around, but because between them, they protected everyone else. Between Arora’s quick protection shield and Peter webbing all of the other potentially explosive experiments out of the blast radius, they had saved three-quarters of the room and protected everyone else in the room. They just forgot to protect themselves. Not that it was a conscious thing as they had maybe a minute to act before the explosion, they just prioritized everyone else. Much to their parent’s ire, which really threw Arora through a loop thinking about. She had a parent that was alive and apparently cared about her? It felt way too good to be true. Frankly, she is accepting of her current predicament post explosion way more readily than the parent thing as this is exactly the kind of luck she has. “You’re telling me that there is a 67% probability that my daughter is pregnant with his son’s child” at this he pointed at Tony, who looked a weird cross of dazed and horrified. “Because the explosion was a fertility drug gone wrong and because Peter was partially covered in the stuff and touched Arora to check on her after the explosion? That she might be pregnant because of skin to skin contact!?”

Arora actually felt bad for the doctor and flinched on his behalf when Bruce started yelling. Peter was the only one who noticed as he was on the bed next to her, though he was looking a lot better than she was as for his super healing that she just found out about. It was a little strange to find out he was Spiderman, but that weirdly wasn’t even the strangest thing to have happened in the last few hours. Seeing her flinch, he slid out of his bed and sat on her bed, taking her hand and squeezing comfortingly. She squeezed back and gave him a small smile. 

“We won’t know for sure for the next few weeks, but with the help of the notes from Dr. Holind (the scientist whose experiment exploded) I have examined the residue from the experiment and have determined that it is a high probability.” The doctor explained, trying to be professional, but noticeably shrinking into himself at Bruce’s anger.

“What about a morning after pill or something like that?” Tony asked, trying to be helpful.

“I’m sorry, sir, but Miss Banner is severely malnourished and anything that is equivalent to a morning after pill will cause severe internal bleeding. It would be safer if we wait a few weeks and know for sure if she is pregnant to decide anything. It should be safe for her to have an abortion should that be the choice made by then.” He told them, sounding very apologetic and trying to be soothing at the same time. It didn’t work and a few seconds later, Clint and Tony wrestled Bruce out of the room and into the Hulk room as he was starting to get very green. 

“How are you doing with all of this?” Peter asked her, making her focus back on him and not her now green father being wrestled out of the room. She just sighed.

“The gravity of it hasn’t hit me yet. Though, I think it says way too much about my life that the possibility of pregnancy through a freak accident is more believable than a living father that actually cares about me.” She tells him, sounding resigned which makes Peter snort. “How are you doing with this? If they are right, technically this is your kid too.”

“It doesn’t seem real. And I don’t think it will seem real until we know for sure. I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t really planning on being the cliché of being a teenage father.”

“I know what you mean. I think it’s a little different for me, though, because I have technically finished my magical education (she had explained the whole thing to him in the three hours that they were together before the explosion). I have been curious about what muggle high school was like, but I don’t think I would have the same feelings I would have had if I was pregnant and still trying to get my magical education, if that makes sense?” She tried to explain to him and was relieved when he nodded slowly after thinking about it.

“I think I get it. It’s like if you were pregnant while you were in college instead of high school. Sure you’re young, but the people that you knew since you were really young aren't there to judge you for it.” Arora smiled brightly at that.

“Yes, exactly.” They were interrupted in their conversation when Peter’s Aunt May (who had come right over after hearing about the explosion) came over to check on them.

“How are you guys doing? Peter, shouldn’t you be lying down still?” she asked, petting his hair a little. They had both been allowed to shower once they were conscious again on the condition that they would immediately return to bed as they were pretty banged up by the blast. They had quite a bit of shrapnel taken out of them, though thankfully it wasn’t as serious as it could have been.

“I’m alright, Aunt May. I’m mostly healed at this point. We were just talking but I don’t think you two have met yet so Aunt May, this is Arora Banner. Rory, this is my Aunt May. She and Tony share custody of me since May was the one who has been taking care of me since my parents died.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Parker. I’m sorry for getting Peter into trouble, it wasn’t on purpose, I swear.” she told her earnestly. 

“Woah, hey, you didn’t get me into anything. I was the one showing you the labs, remember?” Peter interrupted her, squeezing her hand again.

“I know, but this is exactly the kind of situation my shitty luck would have gotten me into and I feel terrible that you are being dragged into it with me.” She tells him, frustrated. 

“How do you know it wasn’t my luck that did this? I was accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider and turned into Spiderman.” Arora gave him a deadpan look.

“I was forced to compete in a tournament that I didn’t enter into that forced me to be chased by a dragon, nearly drown, nearly eaten by plants, and lead to the resurrection of the man who killed my parents.” There was a pause before Peter nodded and shrugged.

“Yeah, alright, your luck is worse than mine.” That drew a chuckle out of Arora, though it turned into a groan as she still had a hole in her side from where a chunk of shrapnel hit her. She jumped and threw her hands up, a curse on her lips when a being materialized through the wall like a ghost, though he looked way too solid to be a ghost (When her magical block came down, she didn’t need her wand to use her magic anymore). “Woah, take it easy, it’s just Vision.” Peter soothed her which really just stayed the curse, though she didn’t relax. 

“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you.” Vision told her, looking and sounding bashful.

“Didn’t Pepper and Wanda and Tony talk to you about using doors?” Peter asked, though he sounded amused then irritated. If anything, Vision looked like he was blushing a little out of embarrassment, which made Arora relax back a little. She gave a quiet moan at the shifting and tensing was doing to her injuries. She thought it was quiet, anyways, though both Peter and Vision looked at her in concern. May, who was standing right next to the bed, looked a little lost as she hadn’t heard the moan, but looked at her in concern anyway.

“You okay sweetie? Want me to go get the doctor to see about some pain meds?” May asked, gently petting her hair back. Arora gave her a tired smile.

“No, thank you, that’s alright.” Then she turned back to the door as Clint walked in with a different redhead who looked like she could kill you with her pinky. “How’s Bruce? Is he alright?”

“He’s Hulked out and currently destroying the Hulk room right now. Tony ran in there with him and the two of them seem to be enjoying destroying anything they can get their hands on.” Clint reported, folding his arms and looking annoyed.

“But they're going to be alright, right?” Peter asked, concerned.

“They need to let their anger out, is all. They will be fine in a few hours.” The redhead assured them which must have been enough as Peter relaxed at the assurance. It took longer than Arora wanted to admit to recognize Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. 

“Um, not that it isn’t nice to see you/ meet you, but what are you doing here?” Arora asked, trying not to sound rude as she was generally curious about the answer. Natasha smiled.

“We came to check on our nephew and our new niece.” Arora blushed and ducked her head while Peter smiled at them. 

“And we come bearing food.” Steve Rodgers answers as he and Sam Wilson come in with bags of Chinese food with Bucky Barnes trailing behind them. Peter helps her sit up properly before he sits cross legged on the end of her bed. The food is placed on the counter and everyone manages to find someplace to sit. Wanda Maximoff comes in quietly with her brother Pietr right when the food is about to be doled out. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a bit more of everything than usual.” Steve told her.

“Th-thank you.” She stuttered, caught completely off guard but the kind gesture. Steve just smiled at her and she suddenly understands why he is considered the epitome of American values. 

“It wasn’t a problem. Now, what would you like?” Arora shifted uncomfortably at that.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had Chinese before.” Everyone stops and stares at her in disbelief. There were a lot of cries of “Never?” and “How is that possible?” which really just led to her trying a little of everything. The room was crowded, but it was nice as everyone talked and laughed while they ate. Her plate was still loaded with food by the time she was stuffed full, so she was careful to place it on a flat surface where she couldn’t spill it. She smiled as she fell asleep surrounded by happy laughter and a full stomach for once in the last three months.  
\-------  
The next two weeks flew by very quickly. As Arora healed, the legal paperwork for her custody was handled quietly and by the end of the first week she was in Avengers tower, she was officially Arora Banner. Half way through the second week, She was healed enough that she managed to convince Bruce it was a good idea to sign her up for muggle high school. It was decided that she should go to Midtown High School so she at least knew one person in the school. It wasn’t until she was standing outside the school on her third week of being with the Avengers did she realize how stupid this plan was. Not only was it in the middle of the semester, she hadn’t gone to muggle school since she was ten (her transferred grades were modified from her time at Hogwarts).

“Are you alright?” Peter asked her as he watched her have a mini panic attack outside the school.

“Why did I think this was a good idea again?” she asked, sounding strangled. Peter just took her hand and gently pulled her towards the building.

“Come on, it’s not that bad. I’ll show you where the front office is and we can find your locker together.” He promised her. She nodded at him, but tightened her hold on his hand so he couldn’t let go. Peter just squeezed in reassurance and continued to drag her through the mostly empty halls as they had arrived early to get Arora settled in properly.

Getting her schedule was relatively painless as was finding her locker and showing her where his locker was. She still hadn’t relaxed, though, and seemed to tense even more when Peter’s friends showed up.

“Hey man, did you see there is a new lego Star Wars kit coming out?” The slightly overweight guy asked him excitedly. Arora smiled a little at how excited Peter got at that news.

“No! Which model is it?” He asked, practically jumping in excitement when the girl who had wandered over to them interrupted them.

“As exciting as that is, who is that?” She asked Peter, clearly exasperated that he had forgotten introductions. 

“Oh, right, Ned, MJ, this is Rory. Today’s her first day here.” He told them brightly.

“So you were showing her around?” MJ asked, trying to puzzle out why she was in their group. She didn’t say it meanly, but Arora still felt very unwanted in that very second.

“Um, not exactly.” Arora told them. “My last name is Banner. Peter’s the only one I know in this school and he was just making sure I was alright. And now that he has I should probably leave you alone.”

“Wait, what? Rory, you don’t have to leave.” Peter immediately protested.

“No no, it’s alright, I should probably try to find my first class anyway.” she told him, trying to smile reassuringly. “It was really nice to meet you. Peter talks about you guys all the time.” She ducked her head then and headed off down the hall. Once she turned the corner, she was immediately lost again and overwhelmed. She was trying to find her math class, but she had the feeling she was on the wrong side of the school for it. 

“Rory.” Peter called, catching her attention through her anxious thoughts. She stopped walking, so he caught up to her fairly quickly. “Come on, Calculus is this way.” He started staring her down a different hall.

“Thank you.” She tells him quietly, clutching onto his arm as they move through the growing crowd. “You didn’t have to do this.” 

“I promised I would help you settle in, didn’t I?” He asked her, discreetly slipping her hand into his so she could hold onto it.

“Thank you.” she told him again, very quietly. He just flashed her a smile as they caught up to his friends.

“So when you say your last name is Banner, do you mean...” Ned asked, finishing off his sentence with a wild gesture.

“Bruce Banner?” She asked him, wanting to check that was what he meant. 

“Yes, that is what he meant.” MJ told her to which she nodded her head.

“Yeah. It’s been really weird. We’re still adjusting.” she confessed to them.

“That is so cool! Did the gamma ray mutation affect the results?” Ned asked, excited about the science behind this theory.

“I thought that it might, but it turns out that the mutation only affects the cellular mutation within the body and not his fundamental DNA.” She told them, sounding offhand about it which Peter figured actually was offhand as they were nearing their first class. 

“Wait, how do you know that?” Peter asked her, stopping thus also making her stop by proxy. 

“Oh, uh.” She looks down and shifts uncomfortably. She looks like she isn’t going to say anything but she folds a few seconds later. “Bruce said that we would go shopping for school stuff last week after I got him to agree to school. But when I showed up at his lab at the agreed upon day and hour, he was in Tony’s lab and they were on a science bender. Friday asked if I wanted me to remind him of it, but I told her not to bother them. I ended up just reading one of his textbooks in his lab for a few hours so everyone else wouldn’t get suspicious and give him a hard time about it. It’s fine, though, I asked Friday to order things that she thought I would need and I came very prepared for school.”

“Arora.” Peter said softly, sighing a little. “You have to tell him when he does that and have Friday notify him when he forgets. They don’t mean to do that, they just get caught up in the science. Tony used to do that a lot at first too, but I think it was easier for me because I had known him for a while and Vision is basically my big brother who Friday is more than happy to tattle to when Tony is doing something wrong.”

“I know he didn’t mean to do it and it’s fine. Really. He’s a busy guy and I get that. Peter, please don’t say anything to anyone about this, especially Bruce. He feels guilty enough when he can’t keep a five sentence conversation going between us right now. I don’t want him to feel guilty about this too.” She pleaded with him, completely unaware of MJ and Ned watching their byplay. The bell wrung before Peter could properly respond, so he gave her a look and told her they would discuss this after school.  
\------  
Overall, her first day wasn’t as terrible as she thought it would be. Peter made sure she got to all of her classes and didn’t leave her alone to the vultures that were teenagers in between classes. She thought his friends would have objected to her presence a bit more, but aside from that morning, they seemed to just take her presences as a given and left it at that. She managed to avoid continuing the conversation with Peter and actually completely forgot about it. She didn’t realize that Peter had not forgotten about it and was just biding his time. If Bruce did it again, he was siccing Pepper on him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything. Enjoy!

The next few weeks went by without incident, though Arora learned exactly how awful Flash was to Peter. She also unfortunately learned just how awful teenage muggle girls could be. She thought teenage witches were bad, they have nothing on the popular girls at Midtown High. Arora was mostly busy those first few weeks catching up on school work, that she didn’t notice she hadn’t had her period since before the lab incident. It wasn’t until she was caught up did she realize it had been eight weeks since the incident. 

It was a Friday night and she had just finished her homework so she could enjoy the weekend without having to think about school for the first time in weeks (to be far, she basically put herself through grades 6-10 in a few weeks). She was replacing the toilet paper in her bathroom when she realized that she didn’t have any tampons. Then she realized she hasn’t needed a tampon since before she was in the tower. That’s about when she started to panic.

“Arora, I believe you are experiencing a panic attack. Would you like me to call someone for you?” Friday asked, sounding concerned. 

“No. No, that’s alright Friday. Thank you.” She told the AI after several calming breaths. She still felt like she was panicking, but she didn’t think she was having a panic attack anymore. “Friday?” She asked after a moment.

“Yes?”

“Is the medical wing equipped with any pregnancy tests?” She asked, deliberately speaking in a measured voice.

“After your possible diagnosis, the medical floor has been equipped with several different brands of pregnancy tests.” Friday told her almost softly in what Arora thinks is trying to be soothing. It is a gesture that she appreciates a lot right now. Friday pauses in a way that Arora knows means she has something else to say, so she waits her out. “Would you like me to notify someone for you to meet you up there?” Arora thinks about that long and hard before she responds with a no. She sneaks out of her apartment and into the elevator, taking it up to the medical wing. Friday directs her to where the tests are located, which is a cabinet stuffed full of ten different kinds, where she takes one of each then proceeds to lock herself in one of the bathrooms that floor has.

Thirty minutes and twenty pregnancy tests later, Arora knows her answer. 

She was pregnant. 

“Okay” She croaks to Friday as she had started crying at the plus signs. “I think it’s a good idea to notify someone where I am now.”

“Of course Arora. Who would you like me to contact?” Friday told her immediately, still in that soft, soothing voice that Arora is pretty sure is Friday’s version of compassion. She thought about the question for several moments before she answered the AI. Who did she want to call? She thought about calling on Bucky as she had understood his problems a lot more than other people and they had started to get close, but didn’t think that was fair to the poor guy. She mostly just wanted to be hugged and told everything was going to be alright, so she dropped Natasha, Pepper, Steve, and Tony along with Wanda, Vision, and Pietr. Sam didn’t live in the tower and Peter was on patrol tonight, so that left Bruce and Clint. She wanted so badly for her dad to come hug her, but she was scared of his reaction to this situation. It’s not all the time, but there are still times where she thinks she will still be kicked out still and is terrified this will be the situation that broke the camel’s back.

“Can you ask Clint to come up here if he isn’t busy please?” she asked Friday who readily accepted it and replied that he was on his way up. When Clint found her, she was hugging her knees with her back to the wall and the twenty positive pregnancy tests in front of her which was the same position she had been in for the last ten minutes. She knew he was there when he entered the room, but she didn’t look up at him until he came closer to her. He didn’t say anything, just slid down the wall and sat next to her on the floor then wrapped his arms around her and tugged her to his chest. Arora didn’t even realize she needed to really cry until she was sobbing into his chest. All he did was shush her and rub her back in a soothing gesture. 

She sobbed for a good ten minutes before she tired herself out. She sniffled in his hold for a while longer before she pulled back so they could talk.

“Thank you.” she told him roughly. 

“Any time, that’s what uncles are for.” He replied easily, though she could tell he was serious. “Your dad would do the same thing.” He continued, giving her a scrutinizing look. “You do know that, right?”

“I just don’t want to be more of a burden than I already am to him.” she told him, her voice muddled like she was about to cry again.

“Woah, where is this coming form? Arora, you are not a burden. Bruce loves you and he loves having you here. He’s just struggling with how to get close to you. After the gamma incident, he spent the following years believing that he wasn’t capable of having kids and spent time making peace with that decision. Imagine his shock to find out that he has a grown kid let alone one that is capable of having kids on their own now. He just hasn’t figured out how to approach things yet, you just need to give him some time.” Clint advised her. It was advice that she was grateful for, but didn’t really help with her current predicament. After a moment of silence, she asked the question that had been burning in her mind since she saw the first plus sign.

“What do I do?” 

“What do you want to do?” Clint asked her, which she spent several minutes contemplating that question.

“I don’t think I can go through an abortion. I’m not against it for those who want it, but I don’t think I could handle going through something like that.” she tells him honestly.

“Well, now you know you are going to go through with the pregnancy. Do you want to keep the baby or put it up for adoption? Everyone would make sure they went to a good home.”

“What if I want to keep the baby? Would that be allowed?” She asked in a small voice.

“Hey.” Clint called, waiting for her to look at him before he continued. “No one is going to take that baby away from you if keeping the baby is your choice. You have an army and a Hulk behind you on this, no matter your decision.” He told her sternly which made her nod with relieved tears streaming down her face.

“I’m so scared.” She breathed out which prompted Clint to tug her back into a hug.

“I would be worried if you weren’t.” Arora chuckled at that. 

“Will you stay while I tell Bruce?” she asked him and was relieved when she got an affirmative. “Friday, could you please tell Bruce that I would like to talk to him down here?”

“He is on his way right now.” She confirmed.

“Thank you, Friday.” They really didn’t need to wait long at all as Bruce came running into the Medical floor and immediately zeroed in on where Arora was. He stopped once he saw she was alright, still wrapped in Clint’s arms with both of them on the floor. That is when he noticed the pregnancy tests on the floor, causing him to calm down from his frantic run and sigh. He made his way to the other side of her, sitting on the floor with them while she pulled out of Clint’s arms to sit between them.

“I was kind of hoping to get the hang of this whole dad thing before I became a granddad.” Bruce commented which surprised a wet laugh out of Arora. 

“You’re not mad?” she whispered, scared still of his rejection.

“It’s not like you meant for this to happen. It was an accident that wasn’t of your making. Of course I’m not mad at you.”

“But you are mad?” Bruce sighed.

“It’s more like being mad at the world. I wish you didn’t have to deal with this while you are still so young, that’s what I’m mad about. And I’m mad at myself.” Arora looked up sharply at that.

“What? Why? You didn’t do anything wrong.” She protested, starting to get herself worked up, but Bruce cut her off.

“Well, that’s the thing, I didn’t do anything. I’m mad at myself that I couldn’t protect you from this. And I know logically there wasn’t anything I could have done, but that doesn’t make me feel like I haven’t failed you any less.” He confesses to her.

“You haven’t failed me. You’ve taken me in and given me a home filled with people who seem to actually want me around. You’ve given me everything already.” She tells him seriously, but Bruce just sighs.

“But that’s not how it feels. How it feels isn’t based on any sort of logic either. I didn’t know you were even alive, but I’m your father and I feel like I should have protected you from the horrors you went through as a kid. I should have been there for all of your firsts and been there when you fell so I could help you back onto your feet. And I know you are old enough that you don’t need a dad to try to protect you from the world, but that doesn’t mean that I still want to desperately try to.”

“I might not be a little girl anymore, but I still need my dad. I’ve never had someone to try to protect me like that, so I might resist a lot, but I want that all the same. Neither of us really knows how to be a father or a daughter. Do you think we could just get to know each other for a while and see where our instincts take us from there?” she asked quietly. Bruce smiled at her, nodding.

“That sounds like a good plan to me. Speaking of plans, do you know what you want to do with this situation?” he asked, gesturing towards the pregnancy tests.

“I want to keep the baby.” She tells him boldly. Bruce just nods.

“Yeah, I figured that would be your answer.”

“Really?” She asked, surprised.

“We might not know each other well yet, but I used to know your mother and you remind me a lot of her. She wouldn’t have been able to let go of the baby either. It’s probably how your birth even came about, if I’m honest.” He told her wistfully. 

“Will you tell me what you remember of her some time?” she asked cautiously. Bruce came back to himself and smiled at her.

“It would be my pleasure, kiddo. But in the meantime, how about we get you to bed? You’ve probably had one hell of an emotional rollercoaster in the last hour. I’ve only been here for the last fifteen minutes and I feel exhausted from the after effects.” Arora chuckles at that, making both men smile at the sound. Bruce gets to his feet first, then helps Arora slowly back onto her feet. Clint collects the pregnancy tests off of the floor before he stands.

“Can you save one, please?” She asks Clint when she sees him about to chuck all of them in the trash. “Put one in a zip lock or something?”

“Uh, sure, but why am I doing that exactly?” Clint asks her even while he pulls one of the ones that clearly says ‘pregnant’ on it.

“I still have to tell Peter and I want it as an option. I don’t really know how to tell him yet.” Clint's face immediately cleared to one of understanding. 

“No problem, kid.” She smiled at him, then let the two men shuffle her up to her floor. They had her drink some water and waited for her to get into pajamas before herding her into her bed. Bruce tucked her in while Clint placed the pregnancy test that was now in a zip lock on her night stand. They said their good nights, then left her to sleep. She thought she was going to have a difficult time sleeping as her mind was still racing from all of the what if’s that could happen, but after five minutes, she fell into a deep sleep only emotional exhaustion can put a person in.  
\-------  
When Arora woke the next morning, she woke still clinging to sleep. She could have gone back to sleep, but something had woken her up. Or, someone. She turned to look at the side of the room that had her door and nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed Peter right next to her bed, holding something in shock. It took her a couple of blinks to realize that it was the pregnancy test that was left on her nightstand. She groaned, flopping back onto the bed. This was not how she wanted to tell him.

“Arora?” Peter asked, sounding anxious with a voice much higher than his usual voice. That made her sit up, concerned that he was going to have an anxiety attack over this. “So-so-?” He asked, waving the test stick around, clearly trying to ask but not sure how to actually form words.

“Yeah Peter. I’m pregnant.” she told him bluntly. He stilled, his face going white.

“Right. Right, that makes sense since this was next to you on your night stand. Are-are you sure? How sure are you, exactly?” He asked all very quickly, starting to pace back and forth along her bed.

“I took twenty tests last night. Two from ten different brands. They were all positive, Peter, and I haven’t had my period in over two months. I’m 100% sure I’m pregnant.” She tells him bluntly, but still gently. 

“Wow. Okay. Okay.” He said, stopping to look at her. “How are you? Are you alright?” Arora smiled at him, gently grasping his arm and pulling him down so he was sitting on the bed with her.

“Yes, I’m fine. I freaked out hard core on Clint and Bruce last night, but I’m feeling a little better today.” She looked down at her hands for a moment before she looked back at Peter who was staring at her, still pale. “Peter, I want to keep the baby. I know this is way more than you ever signed up for and I completely understand if you didn’t want to do this with me. I just wanted to let you know what my decision was. And I hope you can respect my decision as I will respect yours.” Peter just blinked at her, still in shock. “Why don’t you think on it for a while, yeah? I’m going to get dressed and figure out food.”

“Steve’s cooking pancakes. That’s why I was in here.” He tells her absently, standing. Arora immediately roles out of bed and heads to the door with a parting.

“Or I’m getting pancakes.” She left him in her room and scurried to the communal floor where she knew everyone would be for breakfast. Steve couldn’t cook many things, but he could cook pancakes. She smiled at those that were present, even stopping to kiss Bruce’s cheek as she passed. She made Bruce and herself some tea before she got herself a stack of pancakes as well. She thanked Steve as she passed him, kissing his cheek as well. They all looked at her in surprise as most mornings she was dragging her feet as she spent most of the previous night up studying.

“You’re in a good mood this morning. I thought you would be nervous?” Bruce asked as she settled in the chair next to him. She shrugged at him.

“I would have been. But Peter found out while I was still mostly asleep from the test next to my bed.” she told him, taking a big bite of pancake. Bruce’s eyebrows rose.

“How did that go?” He asked her, concerned.

“I’ll let you know when he’s not in so much shock. I told him my decision and told him that he had his own decision to make. I just hope he will respect my choice as I will respect whatever he decides.” She tells him, sighing a little. That’s when Tony enters the room, followed by Sam and Pepper. For the briefest of seconds, everyone is in one room at the same time and Tony gave her the perfect opportunity to tell everyone all at once.

“Decisions about what?” Tony asked, taking a gulp of coffee.

“I’m pregnant.” She tells everyone and has the pleasure of watching Tony spit his coffee everywhere and Bucky starts choking on his food while everyone else goes very still. “And I decided I want to keep the baby. Peter found out a few minutes ago and is still in a lot of shock, so he’s still thinking on what he wants to do. There is one thing I would like to make explicitly clear.” She holds up one of her hands and ignites it with fire, letting it form into a ball and starts casually tossing it up and down. “If anyone gives Peter shit about whatever he decides to do, I will personally flay them alive. Are we clear?” While the fire was pretty intimidating, it was actually the look in her eyes that had everyone lean away from her. They nod at her a little dumbly, not really sure how to take her death threats as she was normally very shy. “Good.” she said, extinguishing the fire and going back to her pancakes. 

“What just happened?” Bucky asked quietly, leaning towards his neighbor who happens to be Natasha.

“I think that was a mood swing.” She tells him just as quietly.

“At eight weeks?” Sam asked, shaking his head. “If that’s true, we are in for one hell of a rollercoaster with this pregnancy.” Everyone else who heard him nodded in agreement, which was the entire room. Arora pretended not to be able to hear them as she privately had no idea where that reaction had come from and agreed with them on the assessment of how this pregnancy was going to be quite the ride for everyone.

They were just about finishing up breakfast when Friday cut across the easy chatter with an urgent tone.

“Boss, someone appeared on the veranda.”

“Appeared? What do you mean by that? Any idea who they are?” Tony asked and Friday pulled up a camera footage of the veranda. On the ground was a bloody, blond figure who looks like he collapsed on the ground. Arora would recognize that blond anywhere and was immediately on her feet and rushing to the veranda.

“Arora” Bruce called to her, but she ignored him and made it out to the veranda in record time.

“Draco!” She shouted, dropping to the man’s side, frantically trying to heal him. He coughs a couple of times and flickers his eyes open. “You stupid boy! What were you thinking!? Have you lost your mind!” She shouts at him while she heals him. He gives her a wane smile.

“Sucks being on that end, doesn’t it Potter?” Arora rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up, you utter wanker. You could have killed yourself, for merlin’s sake!”

“Pot, meat Kettle.” he retorts back, though he lays still so she can help him. She works on him a bit more before she stops. She leans over him and makes him look at her.

“I’ve done all that I can at the moment. I don’t have any potions with me, so you are going to have to deal with muggle medicine from now on.” He nods at her and closes his eyes again, so she turns to the rest of them who were watching the whole time, though they looked like they were poised to help at any moment. “I need a little help over here. We need to get him to the medical floor.”

It took some doing, but they eventually got him settled in medical with a proper doctor looking after him. 

“Friend of yours?” Bruce asked as he came to stand next to her in front of the room window.

“Draco Malfory was my school yard rival at Hogwarts. But, after my godfather died and my magical blocks were removed, he was the only person I knew for sure wasn’t double crossing me. We became unlikely friends. He was the one that helped me escape the magical world to come find you.” Arora replied without looking away from the room that held her resting friend. 

“I can’t find anything on him. It’s like he doesn’t exist.” Tony said, frustrated. “Even you had a birth certificate.”

“Draco comes from a long line of only magical witches and wizards that would be called pure bloods. There hasn’t been a drop of muggle blood on their bloodline in centuries. You’re not going to find a birth certificate because those that have muggle or muggle born parents ever file the paperwork in the muggle world.” She explains, much to Tony’s disgruntlement. 

“But what is he doing here?” Wanda asked what everyone else wanted to know. Arora took a deep breath in and out.

“I guess it’s time to go figure that out.” Arora stepped around Bruce and entered the room, walking over to the bed. Draco turned his head towards her so she gave him a smile and took his hand when she got close enough, sitting on the side of the bed gingerly.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Draco snorts.

“Like I just got torchered then traveled with a portkey and apperasion.” He told her truthfully.

“Torchered? Who the hell torchered you?” She demanded, angry that anyone would hurt her friend. 

“Who do you think, Rory?” He asked lightly. “We knew this might happen when I helped you escape. It’s okay, I knew the risks going into this. This wasn’t your fault.” He tried to sooth her.

“It still feels like my fault.” She tells him petulantly before her face crumbles and she says a little wetly. “I’m so sorry, Draco.”

“Hey, it’s okay. Severus helped. He got me out of there and gave me the portkey to the states. He also got me into a potions program in New York.” she tells him happily.

“Does he know?” she asked, a little scared of the question.

“No, the only thing he knows is that you are in the States. The New York connection was just a coincidence.” He assured her. Arora let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Draco gripped her hand tightly then, looking serious.

“Rory, they are coming for you. Dumbledor is furious. They will find you eventually and you need to be prepared for that.”

“Prepared how?” Bruce asked as he walked in with Tony and Pepper right behind him.

“Draco, this is my dad, Bruce Banner and that is Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.” Arora introduced them.

“I wish our meeting was in a better circumstance.” Draco greeted them.

“Likewise.” Tony quipped.

“To answer your question, everything legal needs to be ironclad. There can’t be a single legal means for them to take her away which would leave them the only choice of kidnapping her. Which, to be honest, I kind on want to see them attempt that. Rory’s terrifying when she’s mad.” Arora gave him a light swat on the arm with the hand that wasn’t still holding his. Draco gave her a half smile before telling her seriously. “They’re planning on trying to trap you by marrying you to one of the Weasleys.” He tells her, which makes her pale.

“Draco, I’m pregnant. If they are planning on me marrying someone, they are going to kill my baby.” She said, frightened, her free hand going to her still flat stomach.

“Hey, no one is going to touch you or the baby.” Bruce assured her, stepping closer and rubbing her back in support. 

“Merlin’s hairy balls, Potter! I thought we covered the safe sex talk!” Draco cried in exasperation. Arora swatted at him with a little more force this time.

“I didn’t have sex, Malfoy. There was a science experiment that went very wrong and this was a side effect of being covered in it.” She told him to which Draco sighed, looking resigned.

“You have the worst luck, I swear to Merlin.” Arora couldn’t really argue with that and just nodded along. 

“Can we get back to the marriage thing?” Tony asked. “Arora’s still sixteen, she would need a signature from her parent or guardian for her to get married.”

“That’s not how it works in the magical world. Once you are sixteen, you are eligible to marry legally. But that is usually only used on marriage contracts that were set up between houses or between magical guardians. When the people who are getting married are still young.”

“Magical guardians?” Bruce asked, not liking the sound of that. 

“Those who are raised by muggles enter the magical world when they are eleven and still in need of a guardian. Most of the time, it is the head of your house or another teacher.” Draco explained and Arora picked it up.

“In this case, my magical guardian was Sirius Black, my godfather. However, he was falsely imprisoned for the first twelve years of my life and Dumbledor claimed he was my magical guardian through false paperwork. When my godfather died, he set it up in his will that I would be magically emancipated when I turned sixteen, but Dumbledor had his will sealed so he’s still claiming he is my magical guardian.” 

“Would it be possible to unseal it?” Pepper asked, curious on how difficult it would be.

“It would just be easier for me to wait until I was seventeen when I will magically be considered an adult anyway.” Arora told them.

“But, they can still force you into a marriage.” Draco pointed out.

“Are you suggesting that she gets married?” Bruce asked, a little incredulously. Draco nodded.

“That is what I am suggesting. If she is already married, then they can’t force her into a marriage that will eventually kill her, not to mention the baby. I would recommend someone with some political clout, though. Sorry Rory, I know you hate the spotlight, but I don’t see there being another way.” Draco told her apologetically. 

“What if she married a Stark?” Peter’s voice asked from the shadowy corner of the room behind everyone. Arora whips her head around as he steps closer to the group, his arms crossed with a determined look on his face. 

“Peter, how much of what is going on have you heard?” Arora asked, surprised to see him in the room and a little confused that her magic didn’t let her know that. Though, if it didn’t tingle then it must not think of Peter as a threat which was not something she could analize right that second.

“Friday let Karan know what was going on when he arrived. I got back here as soon as I could and Friday updated me on everything that has been talked about.” He replies. “So? Do you think a Stark will be enough?”

“Peter, think about what you are saying here. This wouldn’t be for a few months, this could be years.” Arora told him.

“It would be until one of you died.” Draco interrupted. “For the marriage to properly protect her, Rory’s going to have to bind her soul and magic to the person she’s married to. Divorce isn’t really a concept in the magical world.” Arora winced at that and immediately shook her head.

“No way. I’m not putting someone through that. I’m not binding someone to me, that isn’t fair to them. We’ll just have to figure out something else.” 

“From the sounds of it, there isn’t one. It’s either get married or you and the baby dies.” Peter tells her.

“I will kill anyone who tries to hurt my baby!” Arora tells him passionately.

“It’s my baby too!” Peter shouts back. “You told me I had a decision and you would respect my decision as I will respect yours. I may be terrified out of my mind at being a father, but there is no way I’m not going to be there for this kid. There are very few lengths I won’t go to to protect my family and whether you like it or not, that also includes you and the baby. So if marrying you is what will protect you both then that is something I am willing to do.” he told her fiercely, almost angrily. Arora stares at him for a few moments, but when her eyes start to water, she launches herself up off the bed and into Peter’s arms, making him catch her in a surprised hug. She buried her face in his shoulder and cried quietly, relieved that she wasn’t doing this without him. It took a minute, but Peter started to really hug her back with him pressing his face into her shoulder as well.

“Thank you.” She whispers which just prompted him to hug her closer.

“So, does this mean I get an introduction to the groom?” Draco asked, sounding amused. Arora pulled back, looking embarrassed.

“Sorry. Draco, this is Peter Parker Stark, he is Tony’s son and the father of my baby. Peter, this is Draco Malfoy, my...friend.” She hesitated over the use of ‘friend’ as they had a complicated relationship to define. Draco made a wounded noise.

“You wound me, Potter. Calling me a friend.” Draco scoffs and Arora rolls her eyes.

“And what would you call our weird relationship? You’re my best friend but also my rival and half the time we are literally trying to kill each other but you might as well be my brother with how protective you are.” She asked, exasperated.

“Best Sibling frenemies, of course.” He tells her, grinning just to piss her off. 

“You're an insufferable twat.” She tells him, which just makes him grin more.

“I’ve missed you too, Potter.”

“It’s Banner. If you insist on using my last name, at least use the right one.” she tells him, exasperated.

“Can we go back a few minutes?” Tony asked, sounding a little dazed. “Did you two just agree to getting married?” They looked at each other then back at everyone else.

“Yeah, I guess we did.” Peter told them, though he sounded a little unsure of how it got to that point himself.

“I would suggest as soon as possible.” Draco told them. He received several dazed nods at that comment. 

“I’m calling your Aunt May.” Tony said, turning and stumbling out of the room in a daze.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything. Enjoy!
> 
> Thank you everyone for their comments! I really appreciate them!

To say that May wasn’t happy was an understatement. Peter was convinced he could hear her screaming at Tony all the way from her apartment while they were in the tower. Even Arora could hear her from the phone Tony was on from the room over that Tony had moved to. She winced with Peter as her volume and octave changed drastically as Tony explained the situation. Once everything was explained to her, however, she calmed down and agreed that was probably the best choice of action. When the conversation of when it should occur came up, everyone protested Pietro’s suggestion of the following weekend, but reluctantly agreed that was probably the best idea anyway. Peter and Arora were suddenly thrown into wedding plans that neither were ready for. They had given stipulations (It was to happen in the tower with only family and Peter’s friends as attendance) then basically shoved the entire thing at Pepper and Aunt May. They even went so far as to run in the opposite direction when they saw either one of them.   
\-------  
Tuesday was as long as Arora could handle the suspense of finding out how Peter’s friends would handle the situation. They bickered the entire way to school about it until she finally got him to agree to tell them after school that day. He invited them to the tower later that day, telling them that he needed to talk to them about something. Arora was a nervous ball of energy all day, so when they made it back to the tower, friends in tow, she made her excuses, went down to the communal kitchen and started to bake. She made three cheesecakes and two different kinds of muffins before she was found by Sam.

“Wow, it smells incredible in here.” He told her with a grin. She gave him a weak smile back and went back to baking. Sam frowned. “Hey, what’s going on? Not that I am complaining, but are you stress baking?” Arora huffed out a half laugh.

“You’ve found out my secret, I bake when I’m stressed.” she told him sarcastically. Sam took a seat while they talked.

“What’s got you stressed that you are baking for an army? Is it about the wedding? The baby?” He threw out suggestions, trying to guess what was wrong.

“I think I’m ruining Peter’s life.” She tells him, slamming the mixing bowl she had in her arms down onto the counter and covering her face with her hands. Sam got up from his chair and gently led her over to another chair before resuming sitting while still gently touching her arm.

“Hey now, what’s going on that makes you think that?” He asks her gently.

“If I had never come here, then I wouldn’t be pregnant and Peter would feel like he has to marry me in order to protect us and he would be able to chase after MJ, the girl he actually likes and he would never come to resent me because he would never have met me!” she told him in one breath, starting to cry.

“Oh, Arora. Peter isn’t going to resent you.” Sam tried to sooth.

“Yes he will! Because his friends aren’t going to approve and they are going to argue about it and that will put a rift between them and then I will be the reason that they aren’t friends anymore and I’ll be the reason he can’t pursue MJ like he wants to and it will be all my fault.” She sobbed out. “We shouldn’t go through with the wedding. I can’t do this to Peter.”

“Arora, if you don’t get married, that is a death sentence for you.” Sam told her bluntly but still gently. She shook her head.

“If that’s what it means in exchange for Peter’s happiness, then it’s really not a price at all. I just need to survive until the baby is born and I know that you guys will take good care of them.” She told him, starting to calm down and make plans in her head.

“Do you really think Peter is going to be happy with you dead?” Sam asked incredulously.

“It’s not like I’m that remarkable, Uncle Sam. He’ll be alright as will all of you.” She told him, starting to dry her tears and blow her nose. Sam was about to say something but was interrupted when someone entered the kitchen. Arora immediately stood up in surprise as Sam only turned to look at who entered. 

“M-MJ.” Arora stumbled over. “Hi, uh, was there something you needed? I thought the fridge on Peter’s floor was fairly well stocked, but I could be wrong. Was there something I can get you guys?” she asked, starting to busy herself with cleaning up her baking spree.

“Peter was looking for you and Friday said you were here so I volunteered to come get you.” MJ told her, staring at her with an expression that Arora couldn’t read.

“Is everything alright?” she asked, tensing a little.

“Yeah, he just finished explaining everything and wanted to see if you wanted to study with us.” Arora immediately relaxed.

“Oh, no that’s alright. Thank you, I appreciate the offer. Here, take some muffins with you, I made way too many.” Arora told her, passing over a plate of muffins which MJ took. She paused in her clean up when she noticed that MJ still hadn’t left.

“He would blame himself, you know.” MJ told her.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“If you died, he would blame himself. He would never get over it, not ever.” Arora felt like she had been suckerpunched and braced herself against the counter. “None of this is your fault. The baby or the bastards who are after you.” At Arora’s look she nodded her head. “Yeah, he spilled the beans on the baby as well. The point is, Peter has a pathological need to help people and he constantly thinks he’s failed no matter how much he succeeds. It will destroy him if you die. And yeah, maybe I have a bit of a thing for Peter. But his friendship means way more to me than a silly crush that I will get over. You two have Ned and I’s blessing. There aren’t any hard feelings about this. I mean, if you hurt him, I will kill you, but aside from that.” Arora lets out a wet laugh, nodding her head in acceptance.

“I would expect nothing less. But MJ? I don’t want to hurt him. I want him to be happy.” MJ came closer to her, putting down the plate of muffins as she went.

“He will never be happy if you die. I know this is weird, but I’ve seen you two together. I think you guys will figure it out.” MJ encouraged her, which Arora smiled in response to. MJ came closer and hooked an arm through hers, starting to steer her out of the kitchen. “Come on, let’s go work on some Calculus homework.”

“Oh, but- the kitchen.” Arora protested, indicating the still messy kitchen. Sam stood up and handed her the plate of muffins.

“I got it Rory. Go do your homework with your friends.” He told her, smiling. Arora took the plate after a second, but put it back down to hug Sam who hugged her back in surprise.

“Thanks Uncle Sam.” She tells him, then let's go, picks up the plate and leaves with MJ. 

When they made it back to Peter’s floor, MJ had her arm around Arora’s shoulders smiling widely with Arora smiling shyly. Ned and Peter look up when they enter the room, which causes Peter to immediately smile at them.

“Oooo, muffins!” Ned exclaimed, practically snatching the plate from Arora. He gave her an apologetic and thankful look after Peter and MJ gave him scolding looks. That’s when Peter really saw Arora’s face and the tear tracks that she didn’t realise were still there. His face morphed into one of concern and he stood, quickly coming over to her.

“Were you crying? What happened? Are you okay?” he asked, gently pushing her hair away from her face and framing her face with his hands, making her look at him and not away like he knew she had a habit of doing so.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” He didn’t look even a little convinced about her assurance.

“It’s not nothing. You bake when you’re stressed. There are still cookies in the kitchen from the last chemistry test you were worried about. And you don’t cry at nothing.” He insists, absently rubbing his thumbs across her cheeks. Arora looked at him for a moment, then stepped closer to hug him, dislodging his hands in the process. Peter, still concerned, hugged her close and petted her hair. 

“I’m okay, I promise.” She said into his shoulder. She pulled away after a minute, rubbing at her face as she said. “MJ said you guys were working on Calculus?” she asked as a way to change the subject. Peter still looked at her, concerned, but let her change the subject.   
\-------  
Later that evening, Peter woke with a jolt as he heard screaming coming from down the hall. He was out of his room and into Arora’s room faster than he knew he could be. It took him a few moments to realize that she was screaming because of a dream and not because of a live threat in her room. “Arora” he called her, rushing to her side and shaking her awake. “Arora, wake up, it’s just a dream.” She boulted upright when he touched her. “Hey, hey, it’s alright. It’s just a dream. You’re safe, you're in Avengers Tower, it’s just a dream.” He babbled at her for a while until she really looked at Peter.

“Peter?” She asked, sounding really small and clutching onto his arms.

“Hey, it’s alright. You were having a nightmare.” he told her, but she shook her head.

“It wasn’t a dream.” She told him, tears starting to fall down her face. Peter scooted up on the bed and pulled her into his arms.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She immediately shook her head and he nodded. “Whatever it was, it can’t hurt you anymore. You're safe here.” Arora just buried into his arms and took the comfort that safety provided. They stayed like that for a while and eventually migrated to laying down while still holding each other. Neither really knew when they fell back asleep, but it was mostly at the same time.  
\-------  
Waking up like that should have been weird, but it strangely wasn’t. They both acknowledged each other, then Peter awkwardly left and they didn’t speak of the entire thing after that. Neither did they speak of when one or the other would sneak into the other side of their bed at night as they slept well when they were together.  
\-------  
Saturday started very early for both of them as May barged into Peter’s room to wake him up to get ready for the wedding. She stopped short when she realized that Arora was also with Peter.

“Uh, excuse me?” she asked, completely thrown.

“Aunt May? What time is it?” Peter asked groggily, rolling onto his back which just made Arora move with him and bury her face into his shoulder, moaning a little at the interruption of sleep. They both were almost back to sleep when they realized that May was in Peter’s room while Arora was in Peter’s bed, snuggled next to him. 

“Shit!” Arora exclaimed, bolting upright with Peter right behind her.

“You two want to explain what’s going on?” Pepper asked as she too stopped at the sight of them in bed together.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Peter told them.

“Really?” May asked, voice heavy with sarcasm.

“I get nightmares and sleeping next to Peter has been helping.” Arora quickly explained. May and Pepper both shared a look and uhuned, not sounding like they believed that explanation at all, but they let it go. It didn’t matter, though, as Pepper pulled Arora out of the room and into her room to get dressed for the wedding. Arora had woken up feeling a little queasy, but she didn’t think anything of it. So she was really surprised when an hour later, she was suddenly worshiping the toilet. Fifteen minutes in is when she really registered that there was someone else there rubbing her back. She managed to pull back long enough to realise that Bruce was there, holding her hair back for her. She spent the next twenty minutes dry heaving before she was finally done.

“I guess morning sickness finally kicked in, huh?” He asked her when she slumped back. It made her chuckle ironically. 

“I would have been happy to have skipped this part.” She told him which made him smile. “Having it start on my wedding day has to be a sign.” She tells him.

“It’s not a sign. The only sign is that maybe it’s time a doctor took a look at you two.” He tells her, trying to comfort her. They sat there for a while before Arora started to move.

“Alright, now I’m just hiding. I should get cleaned up before Pepper hunts me down.” Chuckling, Bruce helps her up and hands her a face cloth to wash up. She brushes her teeth and rinses her mouth out as well as washing her face. When she’s done, Bruce asks.

“Are you ready?” Arora swallows hard and sits on the closed toilet seat.

“Honestly? No. Pepper is scary.” Arora tells him which makes him laugh up-roaringly. It takes him a while to stop, which leads to her also laughing a little with him. When he does finally calm down, he nods.

“Yes, yes she is. Come on, let’s get back to her before she breaks down the door.” Arora groans but stands up and starts to follow him out of the bathroom. She stops him before they join the rest of the people that Pepper had there to get her ready and pulls him into a hug.

“Thanks Dad.” she tells him. He hugs her a little closer.

“Any time, kiddo.” He let go after a minute and gently pushed her back to the group. 

Three hours later, Arora can understand why Pepper is so scary, because she did manage to pull together one hell of a wedding in under a week. The dress alone was amazing and it made her feel beautiful in a way not even the Ball in fourth year had managed. It was a beautiful traditional white lace dress that had lace long sleeves. Her wild black hair was beautifully tamed in a messy but elegant bun and she had simple diamond drop earrings on. 

“Wow.” A voice said from the doorway, which made Arora turn to see Bruce there looking at her. He walked closer to her, smiling with a lot of emotion on his face that Arora couldn’t decipher. “You look so grown up and so beautiful.”

“Thanks Dad.” She tells him, smiling. 

“Are you ready?” 

“I’m nervous.” she confessed. 

“I would be worried if you weren’t.” he told her, unconsciously repeating Clint’s words to her from a week ago when she found out about the pregnancy. Weirdly, that actually made her relax and she smiled at him before she nodded.

“Alright, lets go.” Bruce nodded back to her and they left the room. In the hall, Bruce held out his arm for her to take. Once she did, he led her to the elevator and they took that up to the communal floor. Arora was blown away when she saw what was done with the main room. Gone were the usual couches and in its place was a beautiful arch where Peter was standing with Tony and Ned standing with him. MJ and Draco were standing on her side of the arch and a man with an eyepatch standing where the minister would normally be. The look on Peter’s face when he saw her captured her attention on the walk forward. She didn’t register the walk there and only looked away from Peter when Bruce let go of her and kissed her cheek.

She barely remembered the ceremony and almost didn’t remember to say ‘I do’, though she did remember Peter saying so as well as exchanging their rings. The kiss they shared at the end of the ceremony was their first kiss. When they were told to do so, both of them froze as neither of them had actually thought about this part. It was awkward and brief, but it left both of them blushing like mad as that was both of their first kisses.

The party afterwards was actually a lot of fun and Arora didn’t remember laughing as much as she had that night with Peter right beside her. There was food that everyone made sure she had some of and dancing, though not the traditional dancing. Most of the time, it was people just moving to the music which led to a lot of hilarious situations. Everyone had a good time, though the party broke up around 9 pm as Ned and MJ had to go home which really just prompted Arora and Peter to leave as well. Once they were on their floor, they collapsed onto the couch together.

“Did that really just happen?” Arora asked, a little breathless.

“Ask me tomorrow when this feels more real.” Peter tells her, which just makes her laugh a little more.   
\------  
It won’t feel real for them for several months, almost a whole year later. Not even having the baby makes them feel like they are married.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything. Enjoy!

School the following Monday was normal and weird at the same time. Really, the only difference was now Peter and Arora wore white gold wedding rings on their fingers. They both were almost neurotic about them, not really comfortable with them and almost paranoid that someone was going to notice them. They relaxed when no one ever did. 

Life went on and things were blessedly simple for the next month. Her morning sickness got worse, but the suggestions the doctor had helped significantly. At thirteen weeks, she started to have the slightest curve to her stomach, which Peter was the one to notice. The day started like any other day (they were still switching between rooms, though they were still sleeping together at night). They had gotten comfortable with each other to the point where they had seen each other without shirts on several times at this point (that had been very awkward with a lot of blushing at first, but after the fifth time, they got used to it). Peter was grabbing something from Arora’s room while she was still partially undressed when he noticed.

“Hey, come here a second.” He told her, walking closer to her. Arora paused in putting on her shirt and walked over to him, confused.

“What?” she asked when he carefully grabbed her hips and turned her sideways.

“I think you're starting to show.” he told her, surprised.

“Wait, really?” she pulled away from him and went over to the mirror to look at her stomach. Peter followed her over to it and together they stared at the reflection of her stomach to notice that yes, she was indeed starting to show. “Woah.” she said a little faintly. “I’m starting to show.”

“Woah, hey, it’s okay. Here, you want to sit down?” He asked, helping her over to the bed where they both sat down. She stared off into space while cupping the slight bump for a while, though it was interrupted when Peter asked. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright. It just caught me off guard.” she smiled at him, gently touching his arm in a comforting gesture. “Are you alright?”

“It’s starting to feel a little more real.” He confessed nervously. Arora chuckled with his nervous laugh in agreement. After sitting there for a while, Arora broke the silence.

“Come on, we still need to go to school.”   
\------  
While the day started out surreal for them, it ended with a bang. Literally, a bang. Terrorists decided to invade the school because they heard that Tony Stark’s son went there. Normal, ordinary terrorists held them at gunpoint and it was only luck that Peter had been in the bathroom at the time. He slipped into his spiderman suit and started to analyze the situation. Arora on the other hand, was keeping the terrorists busy with her so they left the others alone. They weren’t exactly gentle with the kids and Arora knew immediately that if they didn’t have someone to focus on, they would start beating the crap out of the student body. So when one of them started to shake one of the younger students, she stood up.

“Hey, leave them alone.” She demanded, sounding determined and furious. The terrorist rounded on her, dropping the kid to the floor and advancing on her.

“What did you just say to me?” 

“What? Are you deaf as well as dumb?” She scoffed at him. She knew it was coming, but the blow to her face still came as a surprise. It was quite the hit, disorientating her for a few seconds and splitting her lip in the process.

“Shut up, bitch, and sit the fuck down.” He demanded, waving his gun in her face.

“Wow. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” The hit to her head was delivered with the but of the gun in his hand this time, making her black out for a second and fall to the floor. She came back to her senses in time to hear the gunman say.

“I said shut the fuck up, bitch!” She coughed a little and spat out the blood to one side of her. She forced herself onto her hands and knees, woozy and unsteady, but continued talking.

“You’re not going to find him.” That caught a different gunman’s attention as well as the brutal one.

“What makes you say that?” the new guy asked her.

“Because you have the wrong school. Why would Tony Stark send his kid here? Of all the places they could go, you really think it would be Midtown High School?” she asked, sounding more and more incredulous, making it sound like their assumption was the epitome of ridiculous.

“You’re the one who is wrong. We know he goes here.” the new guy told her which made her pause because fuck, that meant there was a mole in the tower. 

“Who are you going to believe? A disgruntled employee out for money or a student who has known their classmates since they were in kindergarten?” she asked condescendingly.

“I told you to be fucking quiet!” The brutal one told her right before he kicked her. It was in the ribs and not the stomach, thankfully, but it was with enough force to bruise if not crack several ribs. She let out a closed mouth scream that was muffled enough it sounded more like a pained moan to everyone else. The pain from that kick made her roll over and curl up, protecting her stomach and trying to breath through the pain. She was very relieved when Spiderman swooped in and took care of all the gunmen, webbing them individually to the ceiling and their guns together on the wall. He dropped next to Arora then.

“Rory?” he asked urgently, but Arora shook her head.

“The tower has a mole. Someone high enough to know where you go to school but low enough they don’t know about me or us. Karen, tell Friday or Tony that please?” She asked in a clenched whisper.

“She said it’s already done.” He told her, about to try to roll her to her side when she whispered out.

“No, you need to go. I need Peter right now, not Spiderman.” She could tell he was conflicted, but nodded and told her he was going to be right back. One of the teachers had come over to her and was asking a bunch of questions that she mostly just ignored. True to his word, Peter was back in under five minutes. He ran at a dead sprint to her side, dropping to his knees at her side again.

“Rory? Rory, can you hear me?” He asked here, gently but frantically brushing the hair out of her face to see the damage. Arora groaned and turned her head, looking up at him. “What hurts? Are you dizzy?” She tried to take a breath in, but white hot pain blinded her for a moment, causing her to groan and turn her head away. Peter took her face in his hands. “Arora.” He demanded. “Tell me what hurts.”

“Ribs.” She managed to choke out. “It hurts to breathe.” 

“We need to get her straightened out. It’s not good to be curled up like this with cracked ribs.” MJ told him, sounding like she was right next to Arora as well. It said a lot about how much pain she was in that she didn’t notice MJ and Ned were next to her with Peter. Slowly, they turned her onto her back and extended her legs, though Peter shoved his backpack under her legs so they were slightly elevated. 

“You’re right, that does make it a little easier to breathe.” Arora told MJ. she turned to Peter, who was fretting over her worriedly. “Pete? Please tell me our dads are coming to pick us up so we can go home? I would feel better if the doctors there could look at me.” She told him truthfully.

“They’re on their way, they should be here soon. How are you feeling aside from the pain in your ribs? Any dizziness?” Peter asked, petting her hair in a soothing gesture.

“I’m a little woozy, but that could be from anything. Mostly, I’m scared.” she told him quietly. “I didn’t even think. Peter, I’m so sorry.” 

“Hey, we don’t know anything and we will revisit this conversation when we are at home after you are checked out.” He tells her, which she nods in agreement to.

“Serves her right. What kind of idiot mouths off to gunmen like that?” Some of the students were saying, which MJ immediately stood up at and stocked over to them.

“She was keeping them focused on one person so they wouldn’t have hurt anyone else, you moron!” MJ shouts.

“Miss Jones! There is no reason for name calling.” Mrs. Pillstock, the art teacher, exclaimed. MJ was about to cause one hell of a scene, but commotion at the door caused everyone to turn to look at what it was. Tony and Bruce stormed through the doors, trailed by a few officers who took in the room at large. Tony and Bruce barely acknowledged anyone as they made a beeline for Arora and Peter. They both dropped to their knees on the other side of Arora, assessing the damage.

“Hey kiddo. How do you feel?” Bruce asked, petting her hair now as Peter stopped when they entered the room and just held her hand.

“It hurts to breathe, but I’m alright. Can we go home, now? I’d like a shower and ice packs after the doc looks over me.” She asks him to which Bruce nods. 

“Friday said Karen said you busted up your ribs. So I brought this with me to help stabilize them.” Tony told her, showing a strange thing that seemed to wrap around her torso. She nodded and Peter and Bruce helped Tony put it on her. Once it was on, Tony activated it, which meant it was tightened in strategic places. She wasn’t expecting it, so she let out a surprised scream of pain.

“Fuck! Tony, you didn’t mention that was going to hurt so much!” She panted at him loudly. Tony looked very upset at that.

“If I mentioned that, you wouldn’t have put it on. Friday says you are stabilized to take you back to the tower now.” Tony told her reasonably. 

“If you had told me, I wouldn’t have let out the scream.” She retorts back. She tries to sit up, but is hindered by three different hands pushing her back onto the floor.

“Hang on a second, a stretcher will be here in a minute.” Bruce tells her. She gave him a crazy look.

“You have lost your mind if you think I am getting out of here on a stretcher. I’ve only cracked some ribs and might possible have accumulated a light concussion. I’m walking out of here.” She tells them determinedly. 

“You are not walking anywhere.” Peter tells her.

“Well I’m not going on a stretcher. So what do you suggest?” Peter shrugged and picked her up bridal style. “Peter!” she shrieked, clutching onto him, caught completely off guard, causing several people to turn towards them. Several people’s jaws were on the floor at Peter’s display of strength, but he wasn’t paying attention to them. He turned to Tony and Bruce asking.

“Can we go know?” They both nodded and led the way back to the car they came in.

The ride back to the tower was uneventful as was the trip up to medical. Everyone was tense through the medical check. Arora actually started crying in relief when the doctor said the baby was alright while Peter practically collapsed onto the floor next to the bed and Tony and Bruce let out relieved breaths. It turned out Arora had three broken ribs along with a lot of bruising, but no concussion nor did she have a collapsed lung. She was told to wrap them and try to breath normally so they can heal properly and sent on her way. They made it up to their floor and she convinced the three to let her shower and get ready for bed. Peter was the one to help her wrap them up and help her into the sweatshirt she wanted to wear (He thought it was funny that it was his). Eventually, she and Peter emerged and settled onto the couch with Bruce on the other side of it. Tony was absently sifting through the new when the story of what happened today aired. When Arora saw that it reported thirty assailants and a disabled bomb, she sighed.

“Well, at least now I know what took you so long.” Peter sighs a little.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No no, bombs before hostages. It was a good plan.” She assured him. He snorts.

“Glad you approve.”

The four of them are joined by Pepper and Steve an hour later and the six of them watch a movie and eat takeout for dinner. Later, when it was just the two of them in bed does Peter bring up the conversation again.

“I’ve had a difficult time wrapping my head around the concept of this pregnancy.” Peter confessed to her. “And seeing the growth this morning helped a little. It’s like, I know you are pregnant, but it hasn't really hit me what that really means yet. Not until I saw you lying on the ground and I thought you had lost them.” He’s quiet for a moment, but it’s clear that he isn’t finished so Arora waits him out. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared before. I thought I had lost you both for a split second there, and it was like the floor had dropped out from under me and there were no webs to catch me.”

“I’m sorry Peter.” Arora whispers back in the dark. “I don’t have any excuses. I reacted, I didn’t think. I knew if I didn’t keep them busy with me, then they would have started to beat up the other kids and I didn’t want them to have to go through that. I’ve been beaten up lots of times, I didn’t even consider the baby in my decision.” 

“I know your first reaction is to help others because it is my first reaction as well. But I would feel better if you left that to the rest of us for now. Or at least until the baby is born.” He pleaded with her.

“I’ll try, I promise.” She vows to both Peter and the baby. Then she starts getting choked up and starts crying. “The baby isn’t even born yet and I’m already a horrible mother.” Peter came closer to her, propping himself up on his arm and gently running his hand up and down her arm for comfort.

“Hey, no you aren’t. You’re going to be a great mom, Rory. You already are. You’re almost neurotic about taking all the vitamins the doctor prescribed everyday and you have made an effort to eat properly, even when you aren’t hungry. And you were just as freaked out as I was about the baby, if not more.” He tried to sooth, which worked enough that she wasn’t crying anymore. She cupped his cheek with one of her hands and told him seriously. “You’re going to be a great dad, Peter. I hope you know that.” Peter gives her an awkward smile, but doesn’t say anything back. They stare at each other for a quiet moment where Arora can clearly see Peter’s eyes flickering to mouth even in the dark just as her eyes are flickering to his. Slowly, Peter starts to lean in, and Arora pulls him a little closer to her, though she is careful not to move too much as her ribs heal. This kiss is the one they will remember with the most fondness as this is the kiss they shared that is just for them. It’s slow and intimate and sweet, though Peter was careful not to deepen the kiss as Arora was still injured, much to her disappointment. They kissed like that for a while until eventually they seperated to get some sleep, both grinning like loons.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything.   
> Note: I have no medical degree or any experience with pregnancies. If there are medical inaccuracies, I'm sorry because wildly inaccurate stuff bothers me when it's in my field too. I'm not too sorry, though, because then I wouldn't have been able to twist my story like this. Please be advised that there is almost miscarriage in this chapter. You've been warned.

Semester finals were fast approaching as were the winter holidays. Arora had managed to skip over Thanksgiving as she didn’t really know what it was and everyone had been too busy to celebrate it that year and she spent Halloween hold up in her room, eating candy in her bed and watching cheesy movies. Everyone seemed to remember Christmas, though, and was determined to celebrate it together this year. Arora would be lying if she said she wasn’t stressed about it. She had no idea what to get everyone, let alone Peter or her father. Another thing she was stressed about was, at sixteen weeks, she was noticeably pregnant and her clothes weren’t going to hide it for much longer. She thanks Merlin every day that Pepper, Natasha, and Wanda had taken her shopping for maternity clothes several weeks ago, or it would have been noticeable right now. It helped that it was freezing outside and everyone was wearing a lot of layers. 

Her faster than average healing due to her magic helped heal her ribs, so now three weeks later, she was mostly healed up. The half of her face that was one solid bruise healed the week before as well as her split lip. Despite the improved healing, Peter still kept taking her bag from her at any chance he got, almost never letting her carry it. She was grateful for it at first, as it was really painful to carry it with her ribs, but now it’s almost annoying. What’s worse, is he has MJ and Ned doing it too. On the few classes that she wasn’t with Peter in, MJ and Ned had taken turns on showing up at her class right when the bell rang to pick her and her bag up. She’s now convinced it has less to do with the ribs and more to do with the pregnancy.

Today was the last day of school for the winter break and Arora felt good coming out of her second to last class, relieved that she didn’t have to think about school for a few weeks. Her last class was gym with Peter, Ned, and MJ. Arora had continued to participate in gym as it wasn’t too strenuous activity for her most of the time and if it was, she would tell the coach she wasn’t feeling well and she would sit on the bench. The coach knew, as it would be dangerous if he didn’t know, as well as the principal. However, no one else knew in the school, just like only the principal knew that she and Peter were married.

The trouble was, it wasn't the coach who was teaching gym class today, it was a substitute as the coach finally succumbed to the sniffles he had the last two weeks and was forced to stay home in bed because of a fever. So for the last day of class, they had a substitute that figured it would be a great idea to play dodge ball so the kids could ‘get their aggressions out about each other’ before they entered the winter break. The concept probably would have been fun if Arora wasn’t pregnant. Her balance and reflexes had noticeably decreased over the last few weeks and Arora was scared she wasn’t going to be able to dodge the ball and it would hit her stomach. It also didn’t help that her center of gravity had been wonky as well and it was possible she could fall trying to dodge the ball. When the announcement was made about the activity, Arora immediately went over to the substitute to talk to her.

“Excuse me, Ms. Krop?” She asked, trying to be polite through her growing panic. “Can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

“Look kid.” Krop told her bluntly. “I get it’s the last day of school and you don’t want to be here, but just because you would rather be eating food and lazing about on the couch accumulating carbs, doesn't mean you can try to skip my class. A little exercise wouldn’t kill you.” She finished with turning away and getting some of the balls ready for the match. Arora stared after her, her eyes stinging a little as she turned to walk back to Peter, Ned, and MJ.

“Rory? What happened? What did she say?” Peter asked at once, coming closer to her and ducking down a little so he could see her face. She hastily brushed the tears that spilled out of her eyes and sat down on the bleacher. MJ sat next to her and Peter crouched in front of her, looking into her face while Ned stood to the side of them.

“I didn’t get a chance to say anything. She insinuated I was fat and told me some exercise wouldn’t kill me. Peter, I don’t think it’s safe for me to play this game anymore. My balance has been wonky all week and my reflexes are sluggish at best right now.” Peter takes her hands in his and MJ slings an arm around her shoulders.

“Ned, how would you feel about destroying a teacher’s career?” MJ asked Ned pleasantly, though there was an underlying sharpness that had both Ned and Peter immediately wary or her. 

“MJ, it would be my genuine pleasure.” He replied sincerely.

“Don’t worry, we’ll straighten everything out with Principal Morita after class. Just stay on the bleacher until then, alright?” Peter told her which she nodded her head in agreement right when the whistle blew for everyone to line up for the game to begin. Peter squeezed her hand one last time before he got up to join the rest of the class. Arora was the only one still on the bleachers, which the substitute noticed after she finished explaining the rules of the game. 

“Hey you,” Krop said clearly from across the gym. “On your feet, the game is about to begin.” Arora looked at her but didn’t stand, going as far as to tuck her feet under the bleachers to show that she wasn’t getting up. “I said, on your feet!” Krop yelled again and Arora shook her head.

“She can’t play.” Betty Brant told the substitute who scoffed. 

“No really.” Flash said, surprising the entire class. “She still has broken ribs.”

“Look at her, you really believe she has broken ribs?” Krop said incredulously before stomping over to Arora. “Just because everyone else believes your attention seeking ploy doesn’t mean I will.” She painfully grabbed Arora’s arm, forcing her onto her feet.

“Let go of her!” Peter immediately shouted, running over to where they were. Once Arora was on her feet, Krop shoved her to the side, which should have just made her stumble but keep upright. Instead, the yanking and shoving had pulled at her still tender ribs, causing quite a bit of pain in the process and making her automatically curl into herself and with how unstable her balance has become, she ended up stumbling and falling hard onto the ground. Peter got to her right after she fell, dropping down next to her to check on the damage. “Rory?” He asked fearfully, pushing her hair out of her face. When she tried to turn to face him, sharp pain in her abdomen coursed through her and she immediately stopped.

“Peter, somethings wrong. Somethings really really wrong.” She tells him tearfully, very scared. 

“Okay, just lie still. It’s going to be okay.” Peter tells her even though he sounds just as panicked as she did. 

“I’ll call 911.” Ned said, reaching for his phone.

“No, don’t do that. Peter, you should call Dr. Banner and tell him what’s going on. It’ll be faster than 911.” MJ told Peter, stopping Ned and crouched on the other side of Arora, holding her hand. Peter nodded and frantically grabbed his phone, calling home while Ned put away his phone.

“Hello Peter, is something the matter?” Friday asked immediately, sounding concerned. 

“Fri, Rory fell in gym class and she says something’s wrong. We’re keeping her from moving around. Can you tell Dad and Dr. Banner what’s going on? Is there something that I should be doing?” He asked her a little frantically.

“Boss and Dr. Banner will be there in three minutes. Try to stay as calm as possible. Dr. Monty is in route and will be there in five minutes.” She told him. “Scratch that, Vision will be in with Dr. Monty in two.” Peter breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Thanks Fri.” He told her, then hung up. “Vision’s going to be here with the doc in two minutes and Dad and Dr. Banner will be here in three.” Peter told Arora, who breathed a little easier knowing familiar help was coming. 

“I can not believe you are all falling for this act.” Krop told them and took a step closer to Arora, like she was going to pull her up off the ground. Peter was on his feet and between Krop and Arora before he knew what he was doing.

“Stay the fuck away from her.” Peter demanded lowly, stunning everyone in the gym. Peter never swore like that especially never to a teacher. Not only that, he looks and sounded deadly which they had never before seen from Peter. Someone must have gone to get the principal because that is when he stormed into the gym and over to the group demanding.

“What is going on here?” 

“Nothing of importance, Principal Montia, just some students who are being over dramatic.” Krop tells him.

“Over dramatic!?” Peter shouts. “You verbally abused a student in front of the entire class when she wouldn’t participate in an activity that she has a medical reason for not to participate in that you refused to hear about! Then you manhandled her onto her feet where you then shoved her so hard she lost her balance and fell onto the concrete floor all because you couldn’t be bothered to take the two minutes it would have taken to listen to her!”

“So she fell, so what? It’s not like she broke anything.” Krop said, flippant and frustrated. 

“She’s sixteen weeks pregnant, you moron!” He yelled at her, completely at his wits end and almost to the point of punching her. He completely missed his entire class staring at him then at Arora and back to him in utter shock. That is when Vision showed up with Dr. Monty, who sprinted over to Arora and immediately started checking her over. Vision came over to Peter, gently taking his shoulders and pulling him away from Krop so he wasn’t leaning into her space any longer.

“Father and Dr. Banner will be here shortly. I think it would be best if you went back to Arora while I deal with this.” Vision suggested, sounding cordial as ever, but Peter knew he was angry from the under current of his voice. Peter nodded after a moment to collect himself and headed back over to Arora’s side. The doc pulled out a portable ultrasound and was currently looking at what was going on. Peter sat down near Arora’s head and petted her hair trying to sooth her as the doc worked. For the ultrasound thing to work properly, Arora was carefully rolled onto her back so she could see Peter better and could move her head side to side freely. 

Tony and Bruce show up barely a minute after that with Tony going over to Vision and Bruce beelining it over to Arora.

“What’s the diagnosis doc?” Bruce asked, kneeling next to Peter and Arora.

“I just got here, give me a minute.” she told him, distracted with her work. Bruce just nodded and focused his attention on Arora.

“Hey Kiddo.” he said calmly.

“Hey dad.” she replied, voice wavering a little.

“Got to say, I’m getting a little tired of seeing you in this situation.” He tells her lightly. Arora lets out a wet laugh.

“Yeah, me too. The one time in my life I actually try to follow doctor’s orders and this happens.” She tells him, which caused Peter and Bruce to snicker with her on that. 

Three minutes later, the doc seems to be slowing in her work which is right when Tony and Vision came over to check on them.

“What’s the verdict, doc?” Tony asked.

“Well the good news is, your not actively having a miscarriage.” she tells the family which makes everyone sigh in relief.

“Oh thank god.” Arora says, starting to cry, which prompts her to cover her face with her hands, but removing them when the doctor started talking again.

“The bad news is, you have severe bruising and too much movement could cause you to miscarry. I’m putting you on bedrest for the next four weeks, no exceptions. You were lucky, Arora. If you had tried to move right after you fell, that probably would have been enough to cause it.” The doctor tells her seriously. Arora nods her head, completely understanding what the doc was telling her.

“How can we get her home?” Tony asked, already fiddling with his phone. 

“Carefully. She can probably still be transported in a car, but she can not stand let alone walk.”

“I’ll carry her.” Peter told them matter factly, like that was a given. Given the scare the young parents to be just had, no one questioned it. 

“Happy will be here with the car in five minutes. In the meantime, want to tell us where your stuff is so we can go grab it for you?” Tony asked. Ned and MJ jumped up from where they were sitting.

“We’ll help you with that.” MJ volunteered and dragged Ned, Tony, and Vision over to the locker rooms to get their stuff. They hadn’t quite out of the gym when Pietro suddenly zipped in.

“Hey, Friday said something happened to Arora?” he asked Vision and Tony, concerned.

“She fell and has severe bruising on her abdomen. She’s on strict bedrest, we are just working on how to get her home right now.” Vision tells him. He nods and zipps over to Arora.

“Hey firecracker. How are you feeling?” He asked, genuinely concerned.

“Hey speedy. I’ll be alright, I just want to go home. What are you doing here? Are you avoiding your dad again?” Wanda and Pietro were sixteen when Ultron happened, so Clint and Natasha adopted them and they have been raising them like they were their own ever since. Now that they were eighteen, Pietro didn’t want to continue with school and was having fights with his parents about it. Pietro stuck his tongue out at her and turned to the doctor.

“Would it be too much strain on her if I ran her home?’ He asked her.

“The G force that your speed would put too much strain on her for that to be safe right now. Flying with Vision or Mr. Stark would be safer, but even that I am not comfortable with.”

“Pietro, Happy’s supposed to be here in a few minutes with a car.” Peter tells him, trying to be helpful. Pietro shook his head.

“No, if running and flying is out, then the car will probably be too much movement as well. Let me call my Old Man and see if he can bring the quinjet.” Pietro tells them, already moving away from them a little and pulling out his phone to make the call. Arora rolled her eyes.

“Great, because that is exactly what this school needs. The entire Avengers initiative descending on them.” She comments sarcastically.

“If it gets you home faster and safely, I don’t really care.” Peter tells her. “Besides, it’s not a bad thing to have a family that cares.” He tells her gently. Arora sighs.

“I know. It’s just still weird that they care.” She admits to him which he nods along with.

“I know. But one of these days, it’s not going to be so weird.” He promised.

“I hope so.” She replies honestly.

Pietro zipped out of the room after he was off the phone, coming back a few seconds later, letting them know Clint was coming with the quinjet. And of course Clint also meant Natasha and Wanda. If Peter and Aroar’s class wasn’t star-struck already, they were by then. It took some very careful moving, but eventually they got back to the tower without risking Arora’s health. Once they landed, Peter picked her up and carried her to her room. He got her settled with the help of everyone and the doctor looked her over a second time, just to make sure everything was alright. It was, but it put everyone’s mind at ease to check. After everything that happened that day, Arora settled into her bed and fell asleep not long after she ate.  
\-------  
Bedrest was boring and Arora was over it after the first three days, but she dutifully didn’t try to get out of bed for fear of what the consequences to the baby would be. As she couldn’t get out of bed, Peter basically moved into Arora’s room, though not entirely. The constant in between that Peter was in split between two rooms started to drive her up the wall and two weeks into the bedrest, a few days before Christmas, she snapped.

“Alright! That’s it!” She said as Peter had been in and out of her room for the fifth time trying to remember where he put one of his shoes. He paused, looking at her, confused on where her frustration appeared from.

“What?” He asked while she slammed her book closed.

“I’ve had enough of this. Go get your stuff and move in here with me or help me move into your room. Either way, pick a room. This back and forth is driving me nuts!” Peter froze.

“You want me to completely move in? Really?” he asked slowly. 

“Yes!” She exclaimed. 

“Okay.” Peter nodded in his awkward way of his. Arora relaxed.

“Thank you.”

“Sure.” he replied, awkwardly still standing there. It was strangely very endearing to Arora, making her smile a little. 

“Maybe start with shoes? That way you can find the shoe you are looking for.” She tells him which makes him give her a small smile. 

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” He told her, quickly leaving and returning with a bunch of his shoes.

Eventually, he found his shoes and they spent the next week changing things so Arora’s room was their room. They bickered a lot on where things should go and what should be moved. Though that was while Peter was home and not at school, as it started back up again by the third week of bedrest. Peter brought Ned and MJ with him most of the time and they helped Peter move things and did as Arora asked. Not that Peter or Arora knew, but Ned and MJ found it hilarious to watch them bicker.   
\------------  
Christmas was a lively affair. Everyone had congregated for the holiday, determined to celebrate with family. Peter had carried her out to the couch so she could be apart of the festivities. Everyone had basically turned her couch into the equivalent of a bed, though, as there were several blankets and pillows so she could be comfortable while she was there. Tony, in his exuberant excitement of having everyone here, had gotten a massive tree for them to decorate and a metric ton of decorations. Only about half of the decorations were for the tree, the rest was for everywhere else. As everyone had been so busy the weeks leading up to Christmas, it was decided that Christmas Eve would be the entire family decorating the room and tree along with baking holiday cookies and eating together then Christmas day would be exchanging gifts with everyone in the morning while eating breakfast together and watching Christmas movies for the rest of the day. 

Decorating had been entertaining for Arora as she watched everyone fuss over where things were placed. Peter and Pietro had both decided to basically become her puppets for half the decorations, placing a decoration wherever she deemed it should go. Everyone laughed at that, as she told them to place several garlands in funny places just to watch them do it. It was incredibly sweet of them to do that for her, but it also completely overwhelmed her. 

Arora remembered the Christmases she had with the Weasleys before she realized what they were. Those were really the only other times that there were family stuff like this during Christmas that she had in her memories. During the war, she didn’t have time for Christmas. While she encouraged her troops to celebrate the holiday as it did lift a lot of their spirits, she herself never did. Christmas had always been another thing that other people had that she did not. And even when she did, as she did celebrate it with a few friends by exchanging a few gifts, it was never to this scale. 

Moreover, she had also never felt so included before, either. It felt really, really, overwhelmingly, weird. 

She had always felt like an outsider looking in on this holiday, but now, she felt like she was apart of it. Even though she couldn’t actually get up and place anything or get up and help bake cookies, she felt completely included in the celebrations. Peter and Bruce were particularly persistent in making sure she felt like that. Bruce was often sitting near her couch-bed and laughed with her as everyone did the decorations around her. He pointed out hilarious places that she could make the boys place something as they were willing to do so. Somehow, just having the choice to place a decoration really helped making her feel included in a lot of things. 

She was never really left along on the couch, either. Someone was always there, drawing her into a conversation about something related to the holiday. Everyone around them had sort of frozen when they found out that she had never seen a Christmas movie before. Arora had tensed at that, not liking how everyone turned to look at her with blank or horrified faces. Steve, the blessing that he was, just shrugged and smiled at her, saying. 

“Cool. Then I guess we get to watch them together.” The simple statement had soothed her already frayed nerves. She smiled back at him, agreeing wholeheartedly. Peter started talking about the various different kinds of Christmas movies, coming closer to Rory and sitting next to her to have the discussion with her and Steve. It effectively made either everyone go back to what they were doing or have them come closer to participate in the discussion. Arora had the sudden urge to kiss Peter for that, but she didn’t. There were way too many people around for either of them to be comfortable with that. 

The best part of not being able to move around like everyone else, was honestly the fact that she was supplied with cookies and other christmas treats. 

All. 

Day. 

Long. 

It had to have been the only perk about medically forced bedrest during the holidays. 

While Christmas Eve day and night had been fun, it had still taken a lot out of Arora. It was literally the most family bonding she had ever had in her life, which emotionally wore her down. On the one hand, yay she had family that actually loved and wanted her. On the other hand, OMG she had family that loved and wanted her. How was she expected to process that? She had mostly processed that she had a Dad that loved and wanted her. She had even sort of processed that she had an in-law, even if the thought that she had a husband was still really, really weird to her. She was not ready to realize that she had Aunts and Uncles and Cousins on top of all of that. Combine that with pregnancy hormones, than she was proud that she had managed to keep it together all day. 

So it was completely understandable that on Christmas Day, when they were exchanging presents, the site alone of having presents that were for her made her burst into wrecking sobs. It had surprised everyone, though Bruce was a little more understanding. Peter was trying to keep his cool, but he was freaking out. He hated when other people cried and he had taken to especially hating when Arora cried. It sort of made him want to stab someone for making her cry and this was coming from the person who was very much against violence. Peter, who had been next to Arora, had instantly gathered her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder while he internally panicked about how to try to calm her down. Bruce, thankfully, came over to her, kneeing on the ground in front of them and tried to talk to her.

“Rory, sweetheart? What’s going on?” He asked her gently.

“I’m sorry!” She burst out, still crying. “I didn’t mean to start crying!” 

“We know that, kiddo, and we aren’t upset with you for crying. We just want to know why you are crying.” Bruce told her soothingly.

“This is overwhelming, isn’t it?” Wanda asked, sympathetically. Arora nodded in agreement, trying to calm down.

“So so overwhelming.” She confirmed, tiredly snuggling a little into Peter’s embrace, taking comfort in his hug.

“What specifically is overwhelming?” Bruce questioned, hoping to narrow down to the root of things.

“Just this.” Arora told them, waving her arms around and sounding frustrated as she sniffled, a few tears still falling but mostly calmed down from her sobbing. 

“Having family?” Peter guest, having a sudden light bulb go off in his brain at her gesture. It was a lot for him as well, suddenly having so many more people to consider family. He too realized as he looked around yesterday that these were his Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins now. It had been him and Aunt May for so long, that the sheer number of extended family he suddenly had did overwhelm him a little. He even had to take a few minutes away from everyone to collect himself a few times yesterday, but never more than a few as he didn’t want to worry anyone. Arora didn’t have the ability to take those brakes yesterday, though, as she was basically forced to stay on the couch-bed the entire day.

“Yes!” Arora exclaimed, more tears starting to fall. “You all are so wonderful and amazing people, but it’s hard to be around you all at once.”

“Is it hard to be around them all at once or is it too overwhelming to be around family all at once because you never really had family that wanted you to be around?” Peter questioned, wanting this to be clear for everyone.

“The second.” She replied miserably, half her face pressed into his shoulder so she didn’t have to see everyone’s reaction.

“It’s alright.” Pietro assured her. “It was the same for Wanda and me what first year we did Christmas.”

“We went so long without family that it was quite the shock to realize how much family we had with Clint and Natasha.” Wanda continued for her twin.

“Even with our birth parents, it was just us, never extended family.” Pietro pitched in, continuing the twin speak they fall into. 

“Is this the first time it really sunk in that you have a large, extended family that love you and want you around for important things like Christmas?” Peter asked her, thinking that he might have found the root of her crying jag. Miserably, Arora nodded.

“Oh kiddo, it’s okay to be upset by that. It’s a lot to take in.” Bruce assured her, taking one of her hands and squeezing comfortingly. Arora turned her head so she could really see Bruce even though her head was still leaning against Peter’s chest, sort of tucked under his chin now. She gave him a small smile back, her tears stopping for now. Vision hands her some tissues, which she thanks him quietly for before she takes them, untangling her hand from Bruce so she could properly blow her nose. She leans against Peter for a while, taking Bruce’s hand for a while longer and just soaked up the reassurance. 

“Remember the first time we all did family Christmas?” Clint asked, smiling wryly at the memory. Steve snorted.

“Man was that a disaster.” He commented, agreeing. 

“Tony set the stove on fire trying to cook a turkey.” Natasha mused with them.

“In my defense, no one should have allowed me in the kitchen in the first place.” Tony immediately replied. 

“You should have seen him the weeks leading up to Christmas. He was a nervous wreck.” Rodey added, smirking at Tony.

“You will not believe the number of things I had to talk him out of.” Bruce agreed. 

“I’m not surprised.” Natacha agreed with a bit of a laugh.

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but give the guy a break.” Clint tells the group. “It was everyone’s first family Christmas in a long, long time. Some of us, ever. We were all a wreck that year.”

“Did you just defend me?” Tony asked, incredulously.

“You don’t have to point it out. I realized just how wrong it felt as I said it.” Clint immediately assured Tony.

“Oh, good. Because for a second there I thought we were in an alternate reality.” Tony comments, relieved. 

“I wonder if there is a reality where we don’t do this.” Peter says, looking thoughtful. Everyone turns to him, curiously. “You know, family get-togethers and family movie nights and family Christmas. Or even a reality where Clint and Natasha didn't take in Wanda and Pietro or that I’m not Tony’s son.”

“I don’t want to think of a reality where I don’t meet you, Peter.” Arora comments. “Or that I’m not Bruce’s daughter. I might not be handling this well, but I wouldn’t change any of this. Not even my past and all the horrors in it.” She confessed, meaning every word of it. Everyone smiled at that proclamation.

“It will get better, Rory.” Bucky assures her, having stayed quiet up until now. “Eventually, things will get less overwhelming. At least it’s a good overwhelming instead of a bad one.” He sympathized with her. 

“Yeah, it is.” Arora agreed, sitting up a little and giving Bucky a smile. “Thanks Bucky.” Then she turned to everyone else. “And thank you for understanding. I’m sorry I cried so much, it just got to me all at once.”

“It’s no worry at all, kiddo.” Bruce assured her while several people all nod in agreement. 

“Now that that is taken care of, presents!” Tony cried, looking a little like a kid about to pounce on his pile of presents. Everyone shot him dirty glares, but Arora and Peter both laughed at his antics. Both of them nodded and the festivities commenced.

After the presents and the food, they ended up watching several Christmas movies, including A Christmas Carol, The Grinch, and The Ref. Arora had fallen asleep against Peter at one point while watching the movies, the day having just completely whipped her out. He didn’t notice at first, having been enthralled with the movie, but at the end, when everyone was ready to move around a bit more, he realized she was asleep. He smiled involuntarily at her sleeping on him, causing everyone to smile as well at the sight the two of them make. Quietly and cautiously, Peter moved so he could pick her up into his arms, carefully taking her back to bed so she could sleep properly. He didn’t want to leave her alone, though, in case she woke up. It was still Christmas, technically, so Peter grabbed the new Stark Tablet that Tony had given him, specifically customized for him, and climbed onto the other side of the bed. He quietly worked as she slept.

Later, Tony and Bruce went to go check on them only to find both of them passed out for the night, Arora tucked into bed while Peter was passed out on top of the bed, his tablet laying half haphazardly on his chest. Both adults just smile at how adorable they looked and let them sleep.  
\--------  
Peter’s birthday was a few days after Christmas, though that was a much smaller affair than Christmas was. Not that the entire family didn’t want to celebrate it as well, but because Peter was also a little overwhelmed himself from Christmas. He spent a quiet day mostly with Arora in their room with Tony bouncing ideas back and forth with him all day as well. Everyone all came in to give him their present to him throughout the day and later, when May was at the Tower, there was a small birthday cake with candles that he blew out after the birthday song. Ned and MJ both texted him happy birthday, and while they would normally celebrate with him, this year they understood that they would celebrate in the new year. There were a lot of extenuating circumstances this year, but everyone resolved for next year to be much more normal.


End file.
